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Spanish Word of the Day Archive
Sunday December 3, 2006
sombrero, noun:
hat
This Spanish word is something of a ‘false friend’. When most English speakers think of a sombrero in English they see a hat with a wide brim which is worn mainly in Mexico and Latin America. But un sombrero in Spanish is simply a common-or-garden hat. Literally it is a hat for giving shade, or sombra in Spanish. The word sombrero was borrowed by English in the 18th century.
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